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Largo property tax rate could jump almost 5 percent next year

 
Published July 17, 2015

LARGO — Property owners here will likely see a hike of almost 5 percent in their property tax rate in the coming year.

City commissioners agreed during a Tuesday workshop to a proposed tax rate of about $5.43 per $1,000 of assessed, taxable value for the tax year that begins Oct. 1. That would be about a 4.6 percent increase in the rate, which is currently set at about $5.19.

Under the proposed rate, a property owner with a house valued at $150,000 and a $50,000 homestead exemption would pay about $543 a year in city taxes

The proposed tax rate will not be final until a budget is passed later this year.

The increase is designed, in large part, to raise $779,300 for the first year of a public safety staffing plan. Under the proposed plan, Largo would hire 30 police officers, firefighters, code enforcement and support personnel over the next five years.

The staffing plan has become contentious among commissioners in part because staff members have proposed instituting a fire fee to pay for the Fire Department. The fee would free up money in the budget that could be used for police and other city needs without raising property taxes. Commissioners recently agreed to pay the law firm of Bryant Miller Olive, which employs city attorney Alan Zimmett, up to $120,000 to study the possibility of creating such a fee.

Largo police Chief Jeff Undestad has said he needs more officers because of gang-related offenses and the increase in population and crime caused by the spurt of development and annexations in the city. Undestad cited the recently opened Walmart at U.S. 19 and Roosevelt Boulevard as an example of development that has created a heavier workload for his officers. When the Walmart property was merely a "dirt lot," he said, police had little or no calls to the address. Since the Walmart has opened, there are between 1,200 and 1,300 calls per year for service.

Undestad pointed out that Largo, with a current population of about 78,400, has a goal of reaching a population of about 105,000 through annexations alone. That's just 4,000 short of Clearwater's population of about 109,000, he said. Clearwater has 240 police officers. Undestad said he doesn't want to get caught trying to cover a city almost the size of Clearwater with less than 200 officers. The department currently has 141 sworn officers. Under the staffing plan, the department plans to add 15 over the next five years.

Commission member Samantha Fenger said she's concerned, among other things, about the failure of the city to have a police staffing plan in place that would keep pace with annexations. One guarantee commissioners make when they annex a property is that the city has the ability to provide services to the property owners. Yet, it appears, she said, that the city has not kept pace with the policing needs of an expanding population. And, she said, the problem is likely to get worse because the commission will be asked later this month or next month to approve 60 more annexations.

Carroll, the city's former police chief, acknowledged Fenger's concerns, saying he could remember a time when "you did not want to be the person standing in the way saying you could not serve" properties that were being annexed. Now, he said, "we find ourselves playing catch up."

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Commissioners agreed they need to create a policy to ensure Largo police and other staffing keep pace with annexations as they happen.

Contact Anne Lindberg at alindberg@tampabay.com or (727) 893-8450. Follow @alindbergtimes.